


the way we begin

by lategenocide



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Love at First Sight, M/M, Open Ending, Pride Parade, brief/implied homophobia, jacob is baby gay, kevin acts as a tourist guide for tourist jacob, pride time aka june, seattle used as plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26674075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lategenocide/pseuds/lategenocide
Summary: The first Jacob has ever been to Seattle, or to pride, for that matter, he met Kevin Moon.
Relationships: Bae Joonyoung | Jacob/Moon Hyungseo | Kevin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	the way we begin

**Author's Note:**

> hello! i lowkey beta'd this with my seattle native friend to make sure i ~glorified~ seattle enough. she my bestie and she really said i passed because "seattle is the city of gays yes". anyway, i hope the description of seattle is accurate enough ( i'm a wa state native, just not from seattle ) for any native seattle readers out there <3
> 
> i listened to < a href=”https://youtu.be/Tx1sqYc3qas” > this song < /a > on repeat while writing this

Seattle is a city of the loudest screams. It envelopes you in its beautiful, colorful pride, every color of skin tone and rainbows decorated in the streets. There is a fierce unity in how  _ liberal _ and free the city is with its expression, whatever strength it has is shared with its residences, who, for being the center of trade of leading the country in the way of progress, are awfully socially inept- a reflection of the people they scream so fiercely for. Seattle, with its loud voice, a center of progression and social justice, a place that welcomes the new and blends the precious past into its present. The international district embraces the flavors of Asia like its home, deeply grooved with history while the uptown climbs towards the sky with eccentric buildings and a never aging enthusiasm for grunge and coffee that pounds deep in their veins. 

Jacob meets Kevin this way. 

He remembers it in perfect video imaging- 1080 HD. He remembers the way the rainbow streaked over his left cheekbone, a carefully intricate semicolon on his collar bone, and the safety pin hanging from his earlobes. His loose black shirt, haphazardly tucked into the waist of his jean shorts, was covered with the light spectrum. Laughter looks good on him- the way his sharp feline eyes curl up into crescent moons, his lips stretching into a rose pink.

_ He’s beautiful _ , Jacob can’t help but think. He’s both in awe and struck dumb by him. It only intensifies when Kevin turns his way, catching his wide eyes with his own. He gestured for Jacob to come over, and out of their accord, Jacob’s feet take the stuttering steps towards him.

“Hey,” Kevin’s voice was breathy, exhilarated “You new?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jacob waved the little flag someone had shoved into his hand, feeling foolish. There was none of the Seattle Freeze in Kevin. “I was uh, vacationing here from Toronto. I’ve never been to a Pride before.”

Kevin grins, “Really? I came from Canada too! Well, I moved here from Vancouver when I was fifteen. Welcome to Seattle, dude. I’m Kevin, you?” 

“Jacob Bae,” Jacob replied quickly. “Just call me Jacob.”

“Jacob,” the latter decided right there and then, that the way Kevin said his name was worth the feelings of foolishness that he’d endured before he’d met him. Kevin flashed him a grin. “Well,  _ Jacob _ ,” there’s a softness in which he said his name- Jacob felt like he had been lifted away by angels. It’s foolish, it truly is, “I know we just met, but do you want to go tour Seattle with me after Pride? Dude, there are so many places you should see.”

There were many dangers of agreeing to spend the day with a virtual stranger, but Jacob didn’t think too much about it, “Sure, like-” he attempted to grasp at something he had seen on Google while looking for places to visit in Washington State, “the Space needle?”

He can see Kevin hold back a smile, “That’s more a tourist thing,” he said in an indulgent, amused tone. Jacob couldn’t even bring himself to care how much he makes him sound like the outsider to this glorified city he is. “Our troll is so much more fun. But yes, the Space Needle, Jacob.”

Jacob doesn’t really believe in love at first sight, but he can’t help but be stupefied by the pretty smile that spreads across Kevin’s face as he failed to contain the amusement, just tinged with a bit of apology, that maybe, just  _ maybe _ , he could believe in it just this once.

  
  
  


Despite what Kevin had said, he takes Jacob to go up the Space Needle- and waves away the Jacob glances at the restaurant- “It’s awful and expensive,” Kevin said, with a wrinkle in his nose. Jacob found it adorable. “Unless you like lackluster white people food. We’re going to Chinatown for food.” 

They’re making their way through the interior of the Space Needle when an overweight, balding man rounds upon them, yelling insults- both in a direct attack to the rainbow sprayed on their faces, pride flags pinned to their shirts, and the Asian bloodline that shows clearly in their appearance. Jacob takes some comfort in the nasty glares people are sending the man and the yells of a few people, snapping at him to  _ shut the fuck up snowflake _ . The comfort isn’t strong though, and he flinches a step back as he starts getting closer.

He takes less comfort in the way Kevin takes out the safety pin in his ear, pressing that, his pride flag pin and hair ties to the cheers of a crowd who were starting to advance on the man. 

“Hold on to these for me, I don’t want to tear my earlobe,” it’s all he said to Jacob before pushing the loose sleeves up- flashing a half sleeve of tattoos. Which, in Jacob’s personal opinion, was really fucking hot. 

The discomfort dwelling in his chest dissipates with the first punch, landing squarely across the man’s cheekbone, he doesn’t wait for a reaction before Kevin’s bringing up his knee to his groin in a hard, upwards strike. The breath he has is hard coming, but the cheers of approval drown out the groaning of the man. Jacob, deep in his heart, had no sympathy for him.

Kevin comes back to him calm, a faint touch of worry fading away from his shining black eyes as Jacob speaks, returning his pins and hair ties to him, “You were amazing,” Jacob muttered in awe. “I- Wow.” he finished his incoherent thoughts lamely, but it’s just enough for Kevin to start grinning. 

“It felt  _ great _ , try it sometime,” Kevin advised. 

Jacob shuddered, just so to make the other laugh, “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

“Fine,” Kevin said, with no heat in it. “I’ll be the fighter to your lover, then.” it’s accompanied by a soft, sweet smile as he clasps a hand around Jacob’s wrist, tugging him out to the balcony.

Jacob lets him.

  
  
  


Kevin is a disaster waiting to strike- he’s a thundering storm, rain hitting like a lifeline in a drought-ridden region. It’s thrilling, watching him talk about Seattle with equal love and hatred. Words race out of him, pressing close to the finish like it’ll make the world better. He’s an idealist, yet so cynical and down to earth at the same time. The praise for Chinatown’s cuisine comes through in the same sentences he berates the local government for their inability to lessen the problems of poverty in the place, not to mention the several hundred other problems that all mash up into one: Seattle is  _ shit _ .

They grab bubble tea at one of the shops that held its place in a steadiness down a hill that led deep into the international district. It’s sweet, a familiar taste of matcha perfectly swirled into the milky tea. Lunch at a hotpot restaurant left Jacob satisfied, but bubble tea was never something he would pass up.

Kevin talks his way through the many skyscrapers in the city. There is no history in his words- but stories of his teenage years here. Opinions and rants and the occasional spontaneous grasp of Jacob’s hand as he drags him the way through Pike Place, pointing out the flying fish and the original Starbucks and the chocolate shop with its intense coffee just across the cobbled street. 

“You know a lot,” Jacob observed, but Kevin just looked amused by this statement.

“Not really,” Kevin replied, “the natives have more on me, I think. Dunno if they care enough to know, though.”

“I think it’s beautiful,” Jacob mused. 

Kevin sighed dramatically. “The tourist in you is talking, Jacob,” he teased. “Are you still going to be here tomorrow? I heard it was gonna be partly sunny, it should be nice.”

“My weather forecast said partly cloudy,” Jacob refuted.

“Same thing,” Kevin shrugged. “Seattle slang, keep up, my guy.” 

  
  
  


Jacob’s last day in Seattle was indeed, partly cloudy- or as Kevin had insisted, partly sunny. Warm enough for Jacob to feel a bit muggy without the fan on, but he wasn’t in the hotel room for long, dressing, and taking a single piece of toast from the free buffet of breakfast items. He left the corridors of the hotel to find his way through the morning traffic jam mess to Pike Place, where Kevin was waiting for him.

It was just Kevin but infatuated Jacob thought he was dazzling in every way. 

When Jacob sidled up to him with a tentative smile, Kevin looked up from his phone, the flat line of his mouth curving upwards into a smile. 

“Hey,” Kevin’s is bright, sweet- pretty to his ears. “What do you think of infiltrating uptown Seattle a bit more?”

He smiles back, “Sounds great.”

  
  


Jacob’s last day in Seattle is beautiful, Kevin notwithstanding. There’s something wildly exhilarating about a city that  _ wasn’t _ Toronto, a place that embraced pride and progress the way his parents didn't. There were pride flags everywhere, hanging inside window panes and flying out on flag poles.

The Amazon Spheres were also incredibly pretty, even from the outside. The outdoors resting area right next to them sported colorful and large bean bags, one of which Jacob and Kevin claimed for a break in the afternoon, as the sun started getting a little higher and brighter. 

“How’re you liking Seattle?” Kevin asks, turning his head to look at Jacob through the glimmering gold of his ( fashion ) glasses. “Have I glorified it enough for you?”

“Yes,” Jacob laughs. “It’s amazing here.”

“The next time I’m back in Canada, you get to show me Toronto. And then maybe I’ll drag you to Vancouver with me, deal?” Kevin holds out his pinky, and Jacob interlocks it with his. Considering how Kevin had mentioned that he left Vancouver by the time he was fifteen, Jacob concluded that Kevin’s guide to Vancouver would be a mess of childhood memories and nature.

“Deal.”

After Seattle, Jacob goes to California, then Arizona for sunburns and a tan, Texas, where he spends only a few days in, having heard the views of the people there, then upwards to New York. He doesn’t bother Florida- if might have not been hurricane time, but that place sounded more like the legends of yore than anything else. 

He takes Kevin with him- through his phone. Photos of the Grand Canyon, of Disneyland, of whatever touristy thing he could get his camera lenses on. He ignored Kevin’s not so subtle but teasing jabs for him to visit Miami and the stories getting lost in the middle of nowhere. 

Eventually, he’s back in Toronto again, back to the familiar boundaries of the city he grew up in. Seattle felt like a crazy dream, Kevin becoming the star it. Thinking of Kevin is as therapeutic and gut-wrenching he had ever thought a long-distance crush would be. Strange, maybe Jacob had been looking for someone that accepted him for Jacob, looking for the ties that strung them together instead of the ones that were severed.

**kevin moon(light)**

kevin: think you can fit me in before fall semester starts again

me: kevin i have med school

kevin: soooo …….. can you?

me: uh.

kevin: if i can show you seattle in like two days you can show me toronto in 2 days 

kevin: c’mon i miss you jakey </3

me: it’s been barely three weeks

kevin: also see: a long time

me: fine,, tell me when to pick you up

kevin: omo i love you too <3

**Author's Note:**

> i hpe you liked the work! i figure it was time there was something not depressing on my ao3 for once FDBFHBV 
> 
> let me know your thoughts if you have any <3


End file.
